Ross Perot: No 2012 endorsement

Ross Perot, the billionaire who shook up the 1992 presidential campaign, has largely remained silent since his emergence on the nation’s political stage nearly two decades ago and as he emerges from the shadows (in part to drum up interest in his forthcoming autobiography), he’s remaining silent about one more thing: the current top candidates running for office.

Pressed by USA Today’s Richard Wolf to endorse a candidate, Perot declined, despite the fact that “members of his family have donated almost exclusively to Republicans in recent years.”

Story Continued Below

Perot is an equal-opportunity critic, unimpressed with both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney when it comes to addressing the nation’s red ink.

“We’re on the edge of the cliff, and we have got to start fixing it now. Otherwise, we’re leaving a disaster to our children’s and our grandchildren’s future,” he said.

Wolf spoke with Perot as part of an interview for C-SPAN, where additional clips have been posted (the full interview is set to air Monday night).

In it, Perot talks about his fear of the United States being taken over.

“If we are that weak, just think of who wants to come here first and take us over, and the last thing I ever want to see is to see this country, our country taken over because we’re so financially weak we can’t do anything and we’re moving in that direct. … We could even lose our country if we don’t get this fixed and straightened out and nobody that’s running really talks about it, about what we have to do and why we have to do it. They would prefer not to have it discussed.

The prosperous Clinton years: “We were just lucky, going through a period where we had the money flowing. … It was just good luck that made it happened. Right now we’re going through a period of bad luck.”

The tea party: “It’s had an interesting impact. … It’s not the solution, but I think it was a healthy thing to happen. … It wakes up everybody running for office.”

Perot says his three wishes for the country would be to have a “strong, moral ethical base,” a “strong family unit in every home” and a better public school system.